Last night, a strange thought entered my mind: a good deal of Zelda games begin with Link waking up. For example:

1. Link to the Past
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Wind Waker
4. Skyward Sword
5. A Link Between Worlds

Why is this a sort-of-trope in the Zelda universe? Is there some mythic reason the writers continually choose this? Is it a type of series in-joke, like the "it's a secret to everybody" thing? Anybody got any answers?

It's a nostalgia thing.

Link is a slacker

Link's Awakening

I suppose it's a sort of metaphor for the hero waking to the call to action. Or maybe it started that way and now it's a tradition.

Because all those games are a really just a dream, they don't actually happen. If you stay for post credits he actually wakes up.

"Well you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you?"

Ron Weasley

The real Link was standing awake and ready to go in the OG Legend of Zelda. The re-occurring bed motif in most other Zelda games are hints that they're all dreams within dreams. Link keeps dreaming variations on his original, waking adventure... Throw away your timelines!

Also I hope this is not off topic but I like that something else that started in ALTTP gets mentioned. I have heard some people thinking Zeldas Lullaby was from OTT -_-

Zelda games start slow, at least the ones I've played. It is meta commentary on the first 15 min of modern games. Either that or they don't know how else to start it

He was at a rager the night before.

Waking up is a nice symbolic event that can provide many metaphors that make it an attractive way to start any game/story but from a design point of view my guess would be that it helps to set up the world for the player.

It establishes that link is comfortable where he is, has existed in the world for some length of time before we got there and should be waking up to another normal day of Linking.

Then the player takes control and the adventure begins everything goes to shit.

It's just tradition.

@glottery: Noice. There's something about sprite-based games that leave room for the player to imagine beautiful interpretations like that.

Part of that curse demise put on his bloodline

I have always read into it as Link being the unlikely hero. A slacker who one day wakes and against all odds (according to his peers) becomes something great that he was always destined to be.

to make it feel like you're a kid waking up one day like a regular person but with this amazing adventure spun on you